A Magic: The Gathering discard deck, also known as a “discarder” deck or a “hand disruption” deck, is a strategy that focuses on forcing the opponent to discard cards from their hand, disrupting their resources and game plan.

The goal of a discard deck is to strip the opponent’s hand, leaving them with limited options and making it difficult for them to execute their strategy effectively.

Here’s an example of a discarder deck:

Decklist:
Creatures:
4 Ravenous Rats
4 Hypnotic Specter
4 Liliana’s Specter
2 Shrieking Affliction
Spells:
4 Thoughtseize
4 Inquisition of Kozilek
4 Hymn to Tourach
4 Duress
Enchantments:
4 The Rack
2 Waste Not
Other:
22 Swamp (lands)

This deck utilizes creatures and spells that force the opponent to discard cards. Ravenous Rats, Hypnotic Specter, and Liliana’s Specter are examples of creatures that have effects that make the opponent discard a card when they enter the battlefield or deal combat damage. This provides ongoing hand disruption while also providing a body on the board.

The spells in the deck, such as Thoughtseize, Inquisition of Kozilek, Hymn to Tourach, and Duress, directly target the opponent’s hand, allowing you to selectively remove their most threatening cards or disrupt their overall strategy.

The enchantments in the deck, such as The Rack and Waste Not, provide additional ways to punish the opponent for having a reduced hand size. The Rack deals damage to the opponent each turn if they have fewer than three cards in hand, while Waste Not generates additional value by giving you benefits whenever the opponent discards a card.

The land base consists entirely of Swamps, as this deck is typically mono-black. This ensures consistent mana production.

The goal of a discarder deck is to establish early hand disruption and maintain pressure on the opponent’s hand throughout the game. By forcing them to discard valuable cards, you can disrupt their plans and limit their options, ultimately gaining a significant advantage. The Rack and other punishing effects can then capitalize on the opponent’s limited resources.

Another relevant Discarder deck I have faced in the past was the Black-Green Rack with the Tarmogoyf.

Here below is an example decklist in the Modern format.

It’s important to note that the specific cards and strategies used in a discard deck may vary depending on the format and the metagame. Adjustments should be made to suit the current environment and the decks you expect to face.

Probably the most basic and convenient kind of Magic: the Gathering deck is the Aggro or Creature-based strategy. The idea of just casting and attacking with your dudes is like doing a Magic: the Gathering tutorial with your kid or a neighbor’s nephew. What makes this complicated and up to the next level is how your critters interact, or you put in cards that get you an added advantage as you make the combat step more interactive.

Check out Mardu Sacrifice:

Maindeck
22 LANDS
4 Blightstep Pathway
4 Brightclimb Pathway
2 Mountain
4 Needleverge Pathway
4 Savai Triome
4 Swamp

16 CREATURES
4 Extus, Oriq Overlord
4 Eyetwitch
4 Serrated Scorpion
4 Whisper Squad

14 INSTANTS and SORC.
4 Claim the Firstborn
4 Forbidden Friendship
3 Plumb the Forbidden
3 Village Rites

8 OTHER SPELLS
4 Bastion of Remembrance
4 Showdown of the Skalds

SIDEBOARD
4 Duress
2 Heartless Act
2 Kroxa, Titan of Death’s Hunger
1 Necrotic Fumes
1 Pest Summoning
2 Redcap Melee
1 Start from Scratch
2 The Akroan War

Reference: https://www.mtgtop8.com/event?e=30792&d=439727&f=ST

I decided to check today on the Strixhaven deck brews as most of the Magic: the Gathering websites were posting them before the set release and once the full spoiler is complete.

I had a few sources in mind, but today I decided to check some decks at MTG Goldfish website and found this article that features 30 casual Standard decks that cost under 20 USD.

Upon browsing through the lists, I chose to feature the deck “Tend the Pests” and here below is the full decklist.

Creatures (25)
4 Discordant Piper
4 Skyclave Shade
4 Tangled Florahedron
2 Egon, God of Death
4 Lovestruck Beast
3 Daemogoth Titan
4 Daemogoth Woe-Eater

Spells (13)
2 Deadly Brew
4 Hunt for Specimens
3 Ram Through
4 Tend the Pests

Lands (22)
6 Forest
4 Jungle Hollow
8 Swamp
4 Witherbloom Campus

Sideboard (7)
1 Environmental Sciences
1 Necrotic Fumes
4 Pest Summoning
1 Introduction to Annihilation

You can check the full decklist on its virtual view here.

A budget deck is mostly composed of Commons and a few Rares at a low price. With the ongoing pandemic and the lack of physical gameplay, the card prices usually descend after the product release to the market and so it is expected that the added value to the total price of the deck will just slightly increase it.

The deck strategy is mostly on having Pests tokens and other token sources and effects and having big creatures that feed on them via sacrifice effects. Daemogoth Titan and Woe-Eater are the major threats in the deck but I would have that the strategy to win would not only rely on these cards.

Referencing a part of the build of the Standard Clerics deck, I have added two particular cards that will be the option B strategy. These two cards are Bastion of Remembrance and Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose.

The enchantment is another token source that also acts to ping opponents’ life total on each die trigger. That also means an additional 1 life gain for each trigger. It is a much worse scenario for the opponent when you have Vito on the battlefield as the life gain trigger will also cause an opponent to lose that much life.

That said, we can cut out unnecessary cards in the decklist and improve it a bit. Here is the updated decklist.

Creatures
4 Discordant Piper
4 Skyclave Shade
4 Lovestruck Beast
3 Daemogoth Titan
4 Daemogoth Woe-Eater
3 Vito, Thorn of the Dusk Rose

Spells
4 Bastion of Remembrance
2 Deadly Brew
4 Hunt for Specimens
2 Bloodchief’s Thirst
1 Hagra Mauling
3 Tend the Pests

Lands (22)
6 Forest
4 Darkbore Pathway
8 Swamp
4 Witherbloom Campus

Sideboard (7)
1 Environmental Sciences
1 Necrotic Fumes
4 Pest Summoning
1 Introduction to Annihilation

Notice that I’ve also upgraded the spot removals to independent ones rather than relying on the situational Ram Through spell. I’ve also improved into a playset of dual Golgari Pathways. More changes will follow later on once we get to playtest the deck on Magic Arena Standard casual matches.

That is a wrap for now on the updated Golgari Pests deck. Until the next blog post.

The scientific method, defined in Wikipedia, is an empirical method of acquiring knowledge that has characterized the development of science since at least the 17th century. It involves careful observation, applying rigorous skepticism about what is observed, given that cognitive assumptions can distort how one interprets the observation.

It involves formulating hypotheses, via induction, based on such observations; experimental and measurement-based testing of deductions drawn from the hypotheses; and refinement (or elimination) of the hypotheses based on the experimental findings.

The overview of this method starts with making the hypotheses, based on knowledge obtained while formulating the question, that may explain any given behavior.

Creating the Hypothesis

In the case of metagaming a Magic: the Gathering format, it is statistical or based on the numbers of the top decks in the format. It is based on the results of the previous major tournaments, which recent ones were mostly done online via Magic Arena platform. Each of these events has a tally on the deck archetypes and their number in the attendance and also can be sorted depending on the % of a top finish in the tournament.

That can then be the basis of the hypotheses, for example, “The most powerful deck in Standard is Mono-Red Aggro.” That is answering the question “What is the most efficient and powerful deck in the current Kaldheim Standard?”

Prediction

The next step is prediction and it involves determining the logical consequences of the hypothesis. In our example here, we can have predictions like “The metagame will adapt to this matchup by having more sideboard cards against Mono-Red.”. In this case, the meta at most times works to counter the most popular deck. It also depends on the variety of decks, if dealing with the first place deck in the previous major tournament might affect the sideboard plan on other top deck matchups.

You can come up with at least two or three predictions and choose which one is most likely to happen.

Testing

The next step may require a lot of your time but it will produce results. Testing or playtesting in Magic: the Gathering lingo is needed to see what works or does not work. Scientists called these as conducting experiments. You need to know the efficiency against the expected deck archetype matchups in the metagame. It is not just placing the best generals err creatures in your deck and expect them to do their job 100 percent.

You can list down let say, the top 5 decks as of the results last weekend. It will already take you a lot of time to playtest each of those matchups but having a playtest buddy is the best way to solve it. The good thing now in Magic Arena is one account can have too many types of decks so the switching is just a few clicks away. You just needed to set your playtest schedule. Also, an advantage is that it is now available to play on mobile so basically you can change venue to your convenience and still play Arena.

Find a buddy that is a long-time grinder in Arena as they will surely have all the decks that you need to playtest with. If not, having random matches also helps to get you a feel on the flow of the deck, like what starting 7 to keep, the sequence of creatures to play, etc.

Analysis

The last part of the scientific method is analysis. By Wikipedia definition, “This involves determining what the results of the experiment show and deciding on the next actions to take. The predictions of the hypothesis are compared to those of the null hypothesis, to determine which is better able to explain the data.”

For the playtest analysis to be done, you need to take note of each of the match results. Be detailed as much as possible, such as noting the highlights of each match. What creatures made you win the game? What relevant scenarios turned the game in your favor? What cards on the sideboard are effective or not after Game 1? Each of these should be considered and noted. I suggest having an Excel sheet of each of the deck archetypes for easy sorting.

Of course, this takes a lot of time and effort but you would learn how each other deck archetype works, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and how you would sideboard against them.

Conclusion

The scientific method is best explained in these statements: “It is not a single recipe: it requires intelligence, imagination, and creativity. In this sense, it is not a mindless set of standards and procedures to follow, but is rather an ongoing cycle, constantly developing more useful, accurate and comprehensive models and methods.”

In our quest to produce better results in Magic: the Gathering tournaments, even in the Standard format, we needed to be scientific in playtesting for the best deck. If it takes trial and error, then we had to do be better in the next local or major tournament. We test our hypotheses. We learn from the previous one, fix those mistakes whether in the gameplay decision or sideboard list and adapt it in our next match.

That is a wrap. Thanks for reading and until the next blog post.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method#Overview

https://www.magic.gg/decklists/traditional-standard-ranked-decklists-march-29-2021

The Ultimatums are game enders in the current builds of Midrange decks in the Standard format. The cost, however, of these unfair spells is the mana-cost and colors to cast them. To do so, the deck should be built around to withstand early aggression and also force these ultimatums to resolve through countermagic.

These midrange decks usually have these core components.

Mana ramp and fixing – the best Green card for this is Cultivate, getting the two other needed lands and colors. For non-Green-based decks, they usually have Solemn Simulacrum which is a turn slower but being an artifact creature means any deck can utilize it.

Board control – That is either spot removal spells or board wipe. It is important to minimize damage and survive early while you are still getting into the Ultimatum mana. White-based decks usually use Shatter the Sky or the new Foretell Wrath of God while Black-based have Extinction Event. They also have the efficient spot removals in Heartless Act and Eliminate.

Card Draw and Cantrip spells – Blue is the best way to execute this as they have various card draw spells starting from one mana cost. Other colors have this but with a few setbacks. An example is The Great Henge, where you need to have the biggest power of your creatures on your board. Once you get to cast it though is a huge advantage in both cards draws and buffing each creature you play. Mazemind Tome is another best example that is now an auto inclusion in most midrange decks.

Overall, the concept of the midrange decks in today’s metagame is to play the control role early on while getting to the mana to cast your best spell in the build. It might be vulnerable to counterspells that will simply deal with the Ultimatum but then when expecting those matchups, you’d have the sideboard to adjust to it

The Standard rotation is drawing near. We will be saying goodbye to our Lorwyn tribe buddies, specifically the aggressive kithkins, the gentle Treefolks, the fiery Elementals, the Elves and the ever hated tribe that ruled most of the Standard, the Faeries. At this time, I’m guessing you are already predicting and preparing for the decks after the rotation. Most will probably stick with the decks from the Shards block or try the mono color theme Zendikar offers.

My post today will focus on my assumptions on the look of the Naya Aggro deck in post-Zendikar Standard. I based these on the current number of Zendikar cards spoiled. For reference, the current Naya Aggro deck in Standard would look like this:

Naya Aggro
by Cole Griffith
Mainboard
4 Fire-Lit Thicket
5 Mountain
5 Plains
4 Rootbound Crag
4 Sunpetal Grove
2 Wooded Bastion

4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Figure of Destiny
4 Great Sable Stag
4 Ranger of Eos
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Woolly Thoctar

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
4 Volcanic Fallout

Sideboard
2 Burrenton Forge-Tender
4 Ethersworn Canonist
2 Gaddock Teeg
3 Harm’s Way
4 Stillmoon Cavalier

This deck won’t be heavily affected by the rotation (it will only loose FOD and the filter lands) but let’s see what Zendikar has to offer to improve this deck.

White Cards – Probably it will just be Day of Judgement at the moment since White has a few previews. Luminarch Ascension can also be an option in sideboard against control and Kor Sanctifiers to dispell random artifacts and enchantments.

Red Cards – The current options here are Goblin Guide and Plated Geopede. The goblin can be fetched via the Eos ranger and act as a pseudo-Spark Elemental with its Haste. I looked at Plated Geopede as a sleeper card like Putrid Leech and its a good option when combined with Zendikar’s enemy fetchlands, which the deck would probably use. Another worth mention is Goblin Ruinblaster which can be a sideboard for control.

Green Cards – The current spoiled Green cards would offer Scythe Tiger which I don’t really like because of the land sacrifice, and Harrow. Yes, it can be an option too and looks cool to combine with the geopede since its an instant.

Fetch Lands – The deck would use Arid Mesa (Red/White) for mana fixing.

With these cards stated, my initial build of Naya Aggro in post Zendikar would be this:

Naya Aggro
Potential Post Zendikar Standard deck
Mainboard
4 Bloodbraid Elf
4 Goblin Guide
4 Great Sable Stag
4 Ranger of Eos
4 Wild Nacatl
4 Woolly Thoctar

4 Lightning Bolt
4 Path to Exile
2 Naya charm
2 Ajani Vengeant

4 Rootbound Crag
4 Sunpetal Grove
4 Arid Mesa
4 Mountain
4 Plains
4 Forest

The sideboard will probably have these cards:
2 Ajani Vengeant
3 Celestial Purge
3 Day of Judgment
3 Dauntless Escort
3 Kor Sanctifiers
1 Naya Charm

Comments and suggestion are welcome so just hit the comments. I will do an update on this once the spoiler is complete. See you next time and thanks for reading.